Advantages of Dialogic Reading
It is easy to implement and requires few materials (time, desire, text) and little training.
It transcends learning disabilities, socio-economic status, and family structures.
It is flexible (any text can be used) and easily differentiated according to the child’s interests and abilities and the books available.
It is easily adaptable to children of all ages and abilities.
The resources invested are highly likely to yield substantive and positive results.
The “… effects across studies are robust, particularly in children’s expressive vocabulary.” (Silverman, p. 203)
Dialogic Reading is most effective when it is done both at home and in the school. (ibid.)
Limitations of Dialogic Reading
It lacks a specific vocabulary instruction component.
It does not discuss extending parent-child / teacher-child language beyond reading time [duh; It’s called dialogic reading].It does not explicitly tap into whatever else the parent or caregiver may be doing naturally to support language.
How to do Dialogic Reading
Introduce the book by reading the title and author and asking what the book might be about;
Read the book using CROWD questions and PEER sequencing;
(Close the book and) ask children questions that relate to their everyday lives.
CROWD questions
Completion prompts: children supply a missing word
Recall prompts: ask about something that children read earlier
Open-ended prompts: allow students to respond in their own words
Wh-questions: who, what, where, when, how, why
Distancing [Personalization] prompts: children relate aspects of the text to their own lives
PEER sequencing
Prompt the child to respond to the book using the amount of language possessed [N.B.: This may even be in the form of pointing to items in the text]
Evaluate the response and model a correct response (especially when factually wrong)
Extend or Expand the response
Repeat answers; Review what children have already done; Re-read the text
CAR method
Comment – and wait
Ask a question – and wait
Respond by adding more – and wait
[N.B.: CAR is intended to foster greater involvement by the child/student by allowing time to process the text, comment, or question.)
Sources
Developing Vocabulary and Oral Language in Young Children. Rebecca D. Silverman, Anne G. Meyer, Anna M. Hartranft. New York: Guilford Press, 2015.
Dialogic Reading Techniques. Book’em. Nashville, Tennessee. www.book-em.org
http://bookem-kids.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Dialogic-Reading-Techniques.pdf
Dialogic Reading: Active Reading with Young Children http://dialogic-reading.blogspot.com
Most of the research on Dialogic Reading has been done with young children (2-5 years of age), but it is, as noted, easily adapted for older children. In addition, novice learners of a language are, in terms of acquisition, linguistically in this range and are emergent readers.
So, does this sound like anything we as foreign language teachers are doing in our classrooms? For me, this reinforces tremendously the Read-and-Discuss activities and provides another reason for me as the teacher to be the primary reader for beginning students.